Your Right to Know

Enlarge ImageRequest to buy this photoSERGEI GRITS | ASSOCIATED PRESSA supporter of former U.S. spy-agency contractor Edward Snowden holds a poster in Russian outside Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow, where Snowden reportedly is in hiding. The poster reads, “Fight against new world order!”

WASHINGTON — Former U.S. spy-agency contractor Edward Snowden might voluntarily return to the
United States if given assurances that certain conditions would be met, his father said in a letter
to Attorney General Eric Holder.

Lonnie Snowden was “reasonably confident” his son would return to face espionage charges in the
United States for allegedly leaking secret surveillance information, the letter said. It was
written by a lawyer for Snowden and obtained by Reuters.

The younger Snowden, a former contractor for the National Security Agency, should not be
detained or imprisoned before trial, should not be subject to a gag order and should be tried in a
venue of his choosing, the letter said.

Edward Snowden, a U.S. citizen, fled the United States to Hong Kong in May, a few weeks before
publication in the
Guardian and
The Washington Post of details he said he provided about U.S. government surveillance of
Internet and phone traffic.

He has not been seen since he arrived in Moscow on Sunday, but Russian officials said he was in
a transit area at Sheremetyevo airport. He has requested political asylum in Ecuador.

Representatives of the Justice Department could not be reached to comment on the letter.

Lonnie Snowden said he was concerned that his son was being manipulated by others, including
people from the anti-government secrecy group WikiLeaks, he said in an interview on NBC television
yesterday.

“I am concerned about those who surround him,” he said. “Wikileaks — if you look at past history
— their focus isn’t necessarily the Constitution of the United States. It’s simply to release as
much information as possible.”

Snowden’s father said he has not had contact with his son since April, NBC reported.

Snowden said he did not think his son had committed treason, even though he said Edward Snowden
broke U.S. laws in releasing details about the monitoring programs.

“He has betrayed his government, but I don’t believe that he’s betrayed the people of the United
States,” he said.